In Remote Amazon, Complex Towns Once Flourished

Archaeologists see advanced civilization in areas since overtaken by rain forest
By Clay Dillow,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2008 2:50 PM CDT
In Remote Amazon, Complex Towns Once Flourished
The Amazon basin is an unforgiving environment, but archaelogists have found that ancient peoples erected complex urban environments in remote areas of the rainforest.   (Magnum Photos)

Researchers have unearthed remains of densely populated, complex urban towns in a remote region of the Amazon River Basin, the BBC reports. In an area of western Brazil thought to be virgin forest, researchers found extensive and advanced human activity, including roads, farming, wetland management, and what appear to be fish farms built prior to Europeans landing in the 15th century.

“They have quite remarkable planning and self-organization, more so than many classical examples of what people would call urbanism,” one researcher said. The 150-acre towns and smaller networks of villages contained roads (identically oriented to the summer solstice) connected through a central plaza, high walls, dams, and artificial ponds. The communities are thought to have been wiped out by diseases introduced by Europeans. (More Brazil stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X